Seize the day
by gemstone1234
Summary: Martin has a seizure whilst on stand-by and, of couse, its MJN to the rescue.


_This is my first Cabin Pressure fic so I hope you enjoy. If anyone is reading 'It's nothing to worry about' I haven't given up on it. I just had a sudden desire to write this. In fact the next chapter of it is underway and I hope to have it up soon._

_I do not own Cabin Pressure, no matter how much I would like to._

_One last thing and then I will let you get on with reading; don't hesitate to leave a review. Getting reviews is brilliant. _

**Seize the day**

"Crap, crap, crap," muttered Martin under his breath as he desperately tried to get the keys into the ignition. After several fumbling attempts he got it in and, after turning it, the engine of his decrepit van coughed into life. He'd had an early job in his van which had over-run because the damned thing had broken down again. So he'd had to call out the AA which cost him a hell of a lot of money which meant he would be lucky if he could buy more than a packet of crisps to eat in the next few weeks.

"Hurry up!" he shouted in a bout of uncharacteristic anger at the car in front of him. He was already running 20 minutes late and the last thing he needed was to get stuck behind a couple in their sixties towing their caravan to whatever horrible park was their next destination.

He still had to get changed when he arrived at Fitton, the last thing he needed was Douglas teasing him about the jumpsuit he wore when he was on a job. He ignored the phone call when it came through, he glanced at the ID and saw it was Douglas calling him but he really did not have the time to pull over and answer.

It felt like an eternity before he finally arrived at Fitton. Having parked the van he jumped into the back of it and threw on his uniform. He stepped out into the pouring rain and instantly regretted not having packed his rain coat. By the time he'd made it through security and to the portakabin he was soaked to the skin. "Ah, there you are captain," came the deep rumble of Douglas as he stepped through the door. "How nice of you to join us." Martin gave Douglas a sarcastic smile as he began to brush the excess water off of his uniform. The sound of heels clicking against the ground caused Martin to freeze; he really did not want to deal with an angry Carolyn.

"What on earth took you so long Martin?" demanded the CEO of MJN Air. "We may be on stand-by for the next few days but that doesn't mean you can waltz in here whenever the hell you like. The client pays us to wait here until he is ready, if he turned up and you weren't here I don't think he'd like to hear that we had to wait for our pilot to turn up. I expect this behaviour of Douglas but not of you." Throughout Carolyn's speech Martin could feel the uncharacteristic anger welling up inside of him and once she had finished there was nothing he could do to stop it bursting out.

"Well you know what Carolyn I was actually out doing a van job which happens to be the only thing I get paid to do and it's not like I get paid a lot to do it. In your eyes it may not be as important as me working at MJN but it's the only reason I don't starve to death. So really you should be happy that I am a man with a van or else you would have to pay for a captain or you wouldn't have one at all. I will continue to do my jobs with the van, even if that means being occasionally late, until you start paying me. Your choice."

There was a tense silence in the portakabin for a few seconds. Martin instantly regretted the words that came out of him mouth unbidden and was now waiting for Carolyn to fire him. Douglas was stunned at the anger, anger wasn't quite the right word but neither was annoyance, in his normally docile captain's voice. Carolyn was slightly annoyed but more surprised than anything. Nobody ever spoke to her like that, let alone Martin Crieff. "Just don't be late again," she stated not allowing any of what she was feeling enter her voice. As she swept out of the room back to her office she seemed to take all of the tension with her and Douglas started to chuckle at the unexpected turn the morning had taken.

"Well Martin, I didn't know you had it in you," commented Douglas once he'd got his amusement under control. The captain ignored him and collapsed into a chair suddenly feeling very dizzy.

"She's going to fire me, oh what have I done?" he moaned rubbing the bridge of his nose and feeling very stressed. It was that moment that Arthur burst into the portakabin brandishing two coffees.

"Morning Skip, I thought I saw you come in so I got you a coffee and Douglas a tea.

"Thanks Arthur," replied Martin feeling genuinely grateful. This was turning out to be a horrible day so far. Knowing his luck they would end up having to fly today and then they'd lose both engines or something equally as horrifying. The captain looked up to see Arthur chattering away but his voice had gone sort of weird and Douglas was giving him an odd look. He almost looked concerned if Douglas could feel such a thing. Taking a sip of the coffee his grimaced, it had an odd taste too; Arthur had obviously put something else in it again.

Cautiously he put the plastic cup down and closed his eyes, allowing his mind to wander slightly. His clothes were still soaked from his trip outside and in the back of his mind he knew that he should get changed or at least take some action to warm himself up. Martin did not do this, instead he just sat there, the feeling of dizziness was still plaguing him. Perhaps he was hungrier than he realised. Absentmindedly he raised his right hand and began to pick at his sleeve and the already muffled sounds of the room around him disappeared.

* * *

There was something wrong with Martin, Douglas was sure of it. He looked at the younger man trying to put a finger on what it was but he couldn't figure it out. So instead of doing anything about it he picked up his book and carried on from where he had last finished, ignoring Arthur as he carried on with his senseless yet cheerful nattering. "…and mum said that she might take me to Disneyland when we have the flight to Paris, that would be brilliant wouldn't it Skip?" Arthur asked looking up at Martin. In Arthur's opinion his mum, Skip and Douglas were the most brilliant people alive. But Skip didn't look brilliant, he looked quite pale and he kept on picking at his left sleeve. That was weird because normally Skip was so careful about his uniform. His curiosity piqued Arthur got off his seat and cautiously walked towards Martin. "Skip? Are you alright Skip?"

At Arthur's questioning tone Douglas looked up from his book to the Steward but then his eyes instantly flickered onto the Captain. Douglas could have answered Arthur's question for him, Martin certainly was not alright. Just as Douglas stood up Martin's entire body suddenly seized up so it was rigid and a small screamed seemed to be torn from his throat. Douglas could see what was going to happen before it happened and he ran forward to try and catch his friend as the chair toppled over but he was a moment too late.

Thankfully the floor of the portakabin was carpeted so there was no crack of bone meeting the floor but it was enough for Arthur to cry out in horror. Douglas was by Martin's side in a matter of moments, untangling his limbs from the chair. "Arthur, I need you to go to your mum and tell her to call the ambulance." Just as he said this Martin's entire body began to convulse and Arthur ran off, partly in horror and partly to do as Douglas instructed him.

It was all the first officer could do to keep calm; Martin should not be having a seizure. He was unlucky, yes, but he didn't get ill and he wasn't epileptic. Cautiously the older man moved the younger man's head into his lap to prevent any damage. He was vaguely aware of Carolyn running into the room, taking in the scene before her with a small gasp and then exited, hopefully to call an ambulance.

Martin's jaw was tensing and relaxing and a small amount of blood began to dribble out the corner of his mouth. Douglas fished a piece of tissue out of his pocket and began to wipe it away from his friend's alabaster skin. Something in the back of his mind informed him that he should be timing this so he glanced up at the clock on the wall and taking a note of the time.

The convulsions seemed endless and the tissue Douglas was using was now soaked with blood and was now unusable. Finally the seizing stopped and Douglas looked up and met the gazes of a very worried Carolyn and Arthur. "Arthur, could you get a blanket, it appears our good Captain lost bladder control during his little episode?" Arthur nodded and scurried away, all of his cheeriness appeared to have been shaken of by 'Skip's' seizure.

After he had left Carolyn knelt down by Douglas who was now taking Martin's pulse. "The paramedics are on their way." The first officer nodded, still preoccupied by the younger man's condition. After a moment she spoke up again. "Do you think he's ok Douglas?" she asked, her voice filled with a concern Douglas had never associated with her before.

"I don't know. Did he ever tell you anything? I mean, does he have a history of having seizures or epileptic fits?"

"No, nothing."

"Well we can be sure that it's true then. It would be highly against regulations to leave out information like that. And you know Martin; he likes to follow regulations to the letter." Carolyn smiled at that.

About a minute later Arthur ran through the door holding onto a neatly folded blanket and he thrust it in Douglas' direction. "Is Skip going to wake up?" he asked worry filling his voice.

"Of course he will," Carolyn reassured, her voice taking on a tone of tenderness reserved only for her child. "We just aren't quite sure of how long it will take."

"Righto," replied Arthur, sounding a little bit happier with life.

While the two of them were talking Douglas slipped Martin's trousers off knowing it would do him no good staying in them. With the gentleness that only a parent could possess he wrapped the blanket around Martin's waist. The Captain was far too skinny for Douglas' liking and decided then and there that in future he would be monitoring Martin's wellbeing much more closely regardless of whether this little episode affected the man's ability to fly. The first officer really hoped it did not, if Martin could not fly he would be absolutely devastated and Douglas didn't know if that would be something that he would be able to recover from.

The sounds of sirens wailing could be heard from the portakabin and moments later the blue flashing lights filled the windows. Douglas breathed a sigh of relief and Arthur being Arthur got very excited by this and dashed to the window and gazed out, is mouth forming an 'O' shape as he looked in wonder at the ambulance. Soon the paramedics were buzzing around Martin while one of them spoke to Douglas about what had happened. Arthur was looking at the paramedics; a look of almost adoration was painted on his face. As far as he was concerned they had the best job in the world because they were helping Skip and Arthur couldn't think of anything better to do than help Skip. Carolyn smiled as she was sure she heard him muttering 'brilliant' under his breath more than once.

* * *

Douglas, Carolyn and Arthur sat in the waiting room sipping at a brown liquid which claimed to be coffee but could be anything other than coffee. Despite Douglas trying to ride in the ambulance with Martin the paramedics weren't having any of it. In the end the crew of MJN Air (other than Martin) had piled into Carolyn's car and travelled to the hospital that way. Now after two hours of sitting in uncomfortable plastic chairs were they allowed in to see Martin. He was tired by lucid and that was what mattered.

"Skip!" Arthur shouted running towards the Captain in delight and giving him a hug. Douglas and Carolyn came up behind him and smiled at him, glad to see him conscious again.

"I must say _Sir_, you do look good in that dress," Douglas quipped and Martin smiled.

"Don't get any ideas," he replied. His voice sounded weak and hoarse but amused. He winced as he spoke and Douglas could guess why, he'd been biting the inside of his mouth pretty hard during the seizure.

"Do the doctor's know what caused this?" Carolyn asked, always one to get straight to the point. At this Martin looked a little bit sheepish but he replied anyway.

"They're running test for epilepsy or anything else that might have caused it," he started, once again wincing as he spoke. "But they think it was just a mixture of malnutrition, anxiety and stress."

"Oh Martin," came the sympathetic gasp of Carolyn and Douglas shot him a pained expression which spoke the same sentiment. "I'll try and pay you, it might not be a full wage but it'll be something, I will try," she said suddenly realising how poor Martin really must be.

"And," started Douglas," I'm sure Arthur has plenty of toblerones that he would be more than happy to let you have to start getting some bulk onto you. Isn't that right Arthur?" At this the Steward looked up grinning.

"Oh yes. Which ones are your favourite Skip because I have some of all of them?"

**As I mentioned before, please leave a review. I would really like to know what people think. **


End file.
